44.— (1) The administration and business in connection with the performance of any of the functions transferred by subsection (2) are transferred, on the establishment day, to the Authority.

(2) The functions vested in the Minister or Secretary General by or under—

(a) sections 28(3) and 33(3) of the Radiological Protection Act 1991,

(b) sections 16(1), 17(9), 30, 31(5) and 38, and

(c) the regulations mentioned in Schedule 3,

are, on the establishment day, transferred to the Authority.

(3) The Minister shall consult the Authority before making regulations under subsection (1), or an order under subsection (2), of section 32 of the Radiological Protection Act 1991.

(4) The Authority is an official agency, in lieu of the Minister, in respect of the enforcement of food safety law, for the purposes of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland Act 1998.

(5) Anything commenced before the establishment day by or under the authority of the Minister may, in so far as it relates to functions transferred by this section, be carried on or completed on or after that day by the Authority.

(6) Where, immediately before the establishment day, any legal proceedings are pending to which the Minister is the plaintiff or the prosecutor and the proceedings have reference to functions transferred by this section to the Authority, the name of the Authority shall, in so far as the proceedings relate to any functions transferred by this section, be substituted in those proceedings for that of the Minister or added in those proceedings as may be appropriate and those proceedings shall not abate by reason of such substitution or addition.

(7) Where, immediately before the establishment day, any legal proceedings are pending to which the Minister is a defendant and the proceedings have reference to any functions transferred to the Authority by this section, the Authority shall not be substituted for the Minister in those proceedings notwithstanding the transfer of functions under this Chapter.

(8) Every document (including any certificate or licence) granted or made in the exercise of a function transferred by this section shall, if and in so far as it was operative immediately before the establishment day, have effect on and after that day as if it had been granted or made by the Authority.